Crimson Luster: A Blood Pact
by r72666x
Summary: Naruto was confined to Konoha, but he could not allow himself to be caged like some animal. In a failed attempt to escape, he was drained of his own chakra. This led him to seek aid from the Nine-tailed Fox. What it did rewrote the history yet to come.


**AN: This is my first story. Wow, can't believe I finally posted this somewhere. XD**

**Disclaimer: No own. No profit. Sad, I know.**

--

Perched still on one of the numerous rooftops of Konoha, a blonde ninja gazes at the moonlit star-filled sky. It wasn't like him to be so melancholic, to be so sentimental. But then again, so much of him has changed. Ever since Sasuke's betrayal, he was bitter. Not only that, the deaths of Tsunade and Jiraiya laid branded in his mind. Naturally, he'd blame himself for them, even if he wasn't responsible at all. And all the guilt has been eating away at his once cheerful soul. Tears cascaded down from those cerulean eyes without relent. Sobs racked through his chest like a mad disease, and his heart was gripped tightly as if a vice bore its power down upon it. He gripped at it to no avail, his flesh in the way. No one would believe that this was Naruto Uzumaki.

At dawn the following day, Naruto slowly treaded a dirt road, following no path in particular. His head was tilted down an angle to avert his eyes from the stone cold gazes that he could feel pierce his into his soul. He could sense such tangible hatred in the eyes of his fellow villagers, all of which were directed solely at him. Isolated all over again, he had no choice but to submit to the will of his people. Stripped of rank, stripped of a home, stripped of his dignity, Naruto was forced to live as an outcast in a desolate part of Konoha. None of his friends could do anything at all about it. In fact, some of them bore the same disgust towards Naruto as the villagers do. And most of the others were dead. This accursed demon residing within him was to blame. It was always its doing; it was always its intervention that wreaked havoc on his life. It embodied the very meaning of curse. And damned as he is, Naruto couldn't object.

Reaching his squalid little hut, Naruto cursed under his breath and walked past it. He couldn't stomach the confinement, even if it was his first day. He had to get away. As stealthily as he could, he stalked past the gates of Konoha, wanting to be free. But then, as his right foot stepped out of the boundaries of the gate, he felt electricity course through his veins. The screams of agony alerted the nearby sentry, and summoned the sixth hokage to the boy. Breathless, Naruto could only admonish himself mentally. Of course, they wouldn't just let him leave, he was so distraught about his situation that his own judgment had been affected. Having been too rash, he completely forgot to move with tact or even at the very least, a semblance of it. He was, due to his demonic nature, tagged as a potential threat to the whole world. If the malignant spirit within him was somehow extracted from its seal and re-summoned into this reality, it would only induce chaos.

His own chakra was completely drained from the electric shock, and at once he resorted to that of Fox's chakra on instinct. In fact, desperate as he was, he pleaded to the demon for aid this time around. What it proposed would retrace their path on the map of destiny. But he was beyond himself now; he was forced, even coerced, to accede to the twisted propositions of the demon. The will to live still bore its roots in the young man. As the hokage and two jounin bore down on him, his seemingly powerless body was engulfed in a violent burst of the fox's trademark blood-red chakra. It spiraled around him and darted off in wayward directions, sending a wave of pure energy through everything it came into contact with. Opening his now crimson eyes, he glared viciously at his pursuers.

"Come, come, relying on its chakra now, are we?" taunted the undaunted sixth hokage, "As if I haven't seen that one before, Naruto." Drawing a blade, he took stance for an assault. Continuing from where he left off, he added, "Now that really won't work," he grinned, "but those eyes of yours… they appall me. I'll have to do something about that!"

Charging, the hokage sliced at the teen, eyes in dead aim. In a flash too quick for blond to follow, the short sword hit true and blood spurted forth from where it struck, splattering grotesquely on the hokage's wear. Naruto's eyes were damaged beyond repair. A single straight slash protruded menacingly from eye to eye, due to form a horizontal scar. His composure was contorted in horror and agony. It came too fast, even with the red chakra empowering him. Powerful, his enemy was simply too powerful. This was all because of those black markings tangling everywhere about his enemy's skin. Naruto had judged that this was a battle he could probably not win, but he had to try. It was his ninja way, after all. That much, he has never forgotten. And if Kami forbid, this was something he would never forget.

Snapping him out of his bout of pain, a voice resounded within his mind which caused him to shiver as it spoke in a dark and guttural manner. It reverberated within him, bouncing through the confines of his soul.

"**Boy, this pact takes time to complete. Stall for as long as you can. Even a pitiful whelp like you has some moments. For now, I shall grant you this one power without cost: Vision without eyes.** **See to it that I have not wasted my breath with you.**"

As this flash moment ended, Naruto felt the pain dwindle to a mere itch. Perhaps it was the demon's doing, perhaps it was adrenaline. Nonetheless, he felt, at the very least, able to battle again. Lowering his headband over his eyes, he maintained composure and gasped at a sudden revelation: He could see.

--

**AN: So... what do you think?**


End file.
